The year 2020 started with some issues, bad issues to be precise. We all have seen unusual activities that we might never imagine to witness. Similarly, the Indian state of Rajasthan witnessed a strange incident a few days ago. Locals at Sanchore witnessed a meteorite for the first time probably in their entire life span.
What happened on 19th June 2020:
On 19th June 2020, locals of Sanchore town of Rajasthan witnessed something falling from the sky, leaving them perplexed. At first, everyone was sceptical and scared about its identity because it could be anything. Locals called the police to investigate what it was, later on, it was cleared that a meteorite-like object fell from the sky. It weighed around 2.78 kg and dug a crater of about one-foot on the surface of the earth.
Locals who witnessed it first said that the meteorite-like-object created the sound of an explosive, which echoed around a two-kilometres of distance. Also, the object was radiating heat. When the police reached the place, they also witnessed its emitting heat. When the meteor cooled down, then only they placed it in a jar and took it with them for proper inspection.
What police and officials had done so far:
Later on, the officials checked their doubts about the meteorite by taking it to a private lab. That private lab located at the jewellery shop at Sanchore confirmed their doubtful allegations. The object had 10.23 per cent of nickel, 85.86 per cent of iron, 0.5 per cent platinum, 0.02 per cent geranium, 0.01 per cent antimony 0.01 per cent niobium and 3.8 per cent other metals found in the research.
After that, the officials contacted the team of geologists in the Geographical Survey of India’s Ahmedabad and Jaipur office for further test and examination. The object is currently under the possession of Sanchore police, and they stopped people from visiting the place where this incident took place.
About Sanchore town, Rajasthan:
Let’s know more about Sanchore. Formerly known as Satyapur, Sanchore is a town in Jalore District of Rajasthan. This town has a prominent Jain temple. Also, every year, during April and May, this town hosts cattle fair named as Baba Raghunathpuri Pashu Mela. If anyone plans to visit this place post-COVID-19, then they can reach by bus or train. This town has plenty of supermarkets and movie theatres, has decent restaurants with great food. And, not to forget, hotels and lodges are also great. People here speak Hindi as well as Rajasthani.
What is a meteorite?
Moving towards the most important question here, what is a meteorite? Well, the meteorite is a term given to a piece of asteroid and comet that falls into the earth’s atmosphere and survives to hit the surface. In layman terms, when we see shooting stars in the sky, it means that a piece of comet and asteroid falls on the earth’s atmosphere. Or to put it into simple words meteorites are space rock that falls on the earth’s surface. Similarly, when it touched the earth’s surface, it dugs a hole depending upon its size. Something which happened in Sanchore, Rajasthan.
Types of Meteorite:
A meteorite categorised into three divisions. They are stony, iron (metallic) and stony-iron (metallic).
Stony Meteorite: Its name pretty much explains its property. Made from rocky material, these meteorites are not very different that we can find on the ground of the earth’s surface. Also, these kinds are known as the most common among others. It represents the leftover remnants of our solar system.
Iron (Metallic) Meteorite: These kinds of meteorites made up of iron and nickel, hence named as an iron meteorite.
Stony-Iron (Metallic) Meteorite: These meteorites have nearly equal amounts of silicate minerals and metals.
What is the difference between a meteor, meteorite and asteroid?
Our solar system contains numerous secrets that scientists are still looking after. With the first picture of the black hole, the universe has become more complex and simple both at the same time. A meteor, meteorite, and asteroid all of them are different from each other.
- Meteor: Meteors are pieces of comet dust no bigger than a grain of rice. They burn before reaching the surface leaving behind sparkly trails that we often call as shooting stars.
- Meteorites: We already talked about the meteorites. Meteorites are the rocks that fall from the space on the earth’s surface.
- Asteroids: On the other hand, asteroids are big. A belt, known as the asteroid belt found between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are the rocky bodies found in this belt. Those asteroids which are much smaller than planets are, sometimes pulled out of the belt. Many of them travel through the solar system, and some might collide with the earth.
This incident in the Sanchore town of Rajasthan made famous. If Coronavirus isn’t on a pinnacle, then many people would come from all over the world.
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